


Existence

by Stellacarlberg



Category: Tuck Everlasting - Miller/Tysen/Shear & Federle, Tuck Everlasting - Natalie Babbitt
Genre: Angus and Mae make me believe in love, Canon Era, F/M, Small Drabble
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-07
Updated: 2019-02-07
Packaged: 2019-10-23 20:42:57
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,249
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17690525
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Stellacarlberg/pseuds/Stellacarlberg
Summary: Living forever was very different from how Mae had imagined it.Prompt: "Did you do something different with your hair?"





	Existence

Living forever was very different from how Mae had imagined it. Not that she had ever really imagined it, of course. It is not something you think could ever happen to you. But it was very different from how she had expected it to be by the time they had all figured out the secret to the spring. 

It had taken only a few years after that before the townspeople had began to suspect something. Not so much with her an Angus, thank goodness, as both of them being grown hid the fact that they didn’t age any longer. No, she and Angus were quite safe. It was their sons that turned out to be a problem. They both had been so young when they drank the water that any changes, or in this case not any changes, was evident every time you looked at them. Even though they lived outside of town, people began to talk. It had been one clear, warm, day, during which Mae had decided to do some shopping, that she had heard the gossip herself. Standing in line to pay for her eggs and vegetables, she could make out loud whispers behind her. 

“-very strange, how the children still aren’t married,” a woman said. “Of course, no one wants to marry a man who looks so young, still. Can you imagine? How old is he?”

“You know, I can never tell,” her friend had replied. “Maybe she had them very old? She must be well over sixty, by now.”

Mae left the market as quickly as she could, avoiding eye contact and hurrying back to her house. By the time she got home, she ran inside with rosy cheeks and a stitch in her side. 

“We need to move,” she said. Her family looked up from their respective work. Angus was mending some old fishing hooks. Jesse was reading a new book Miles had bought in town the other day. Miles himself was making tea in the kitchen. 

“What’s wrong, Mae?” Angus asked and pulled her close. His warm body made her breathe evenly again, always a steady presence in the turbulent life that she lived.   
She explained everything to them, not sparing any details of what had been said. Miles put the cup of tea in front of her, and she took it gratefully. Jesse had left the book by the fire and was pacing through the room. Angus sat down as she told her story, not interrupting but simply looking at her with a pensive look.

They, or at least everybody except for Jesse, agreed that they had been reckless. Letting the boys go into town to run errands had seemed like a perfect idea, but it had only succeeded in drawing attention to themselves. Now, they were facing different paths; and no matter which they chose, the boys could not walk aound freely any longer. They could not be seen by anyone who knew the family Tuck. They could barely go outside the house without risking being caught. This made them both Miles and Jesse irritated and anxious, especially Jesse, who was curious and adventurous by nature. He didn’t want a life like that, he wanted to climb trees and meet new people and not worry about tomorrow. Miles understood the stakes in a way his younger brother couldn’t, but he still was unhappy. None of their children were satisfied with this situation, being prisoners in their own home. That left them with only one other option. 

They promised to meet again in ten years time, to have something to look forward to. Miles and Jesse both kissed their mother goodbye, hugged their father, and then set off on the road together, side by side. As they disappeared to God knows where, Mae could only think about how she would be as good as childless for ten long years.   
After that, a new routine got set in place. Mae and Angus went on with their lives, as they had promised their sons they would. They lived in their small house. They went into town at special occasions, as often as they dared. Angus fished a lot, and Mae learned the best ways to cook the fish he caught. They lived in silence and peace, waiting for the days to go by, missing their sons. Until their family was reunited once more. And then they did it all over again.

And so the years went by. Tedious waiting for that small gap of utmost bliss every decade. Mae would lie if she said she enjoyed her immortal life. It was too much time spent looking at the clock in the kitchen, waiting for the hours, days, weeks, months, years to go by. But just like she learned the many different ways to cook trout, she learned how to deal with the routine. The most important thing, she found, was to make the small things exciting again. Everytime she did a small change in her otherwise solid routine, she celebrated this and silently put it in the back of her memory. She vowed to herself that even if she didn’t age any longer, she would never forget the ways she _did_ change. 

It was a sunny autumn day, one of the last warm ones of the season. Angus was sitting on the porch, wiping off his fish-cleaning knife. He was wearing his hat to keep the sun from his eyes, and he had a concentrated look on his face as he carefully cleaned the blade. Mae was basking in the sun a couple of yards away, going through the mushrooms she had found when she was out walking earlier that day. It was perfectly calm, both of them enjoying the quiet of the woods. It was still almost four years until next time the boys would visit. Mae tried not to think about it too much, since it would only lead her to be even more upset. 

Suddenly Angus glanced up and looked at Mae for a moment. His eyes were slightly narrowed. 

“Did you do something different with your hair?” he asked. 

Mae looked up in surprise. She had indeed changed up her hairstyle that morning. Her reddish hair was newly washed, and when she that morning had combed it she couldn’t bring herself to put it up like she always did. It was too soft to be hidden away, she had thought, before letting it flow freely down her shoulders. It had been very difficult when she walked through the woods and bent down to pick mushrooms, as locks always got in the way of her face. Somehow, though, it had been worth it, when she now looked at her husband with a soft smile.

“I didn’t think you would notice,” she admitted. Angus nodded, satisfied with his own observance. 

“It suits you,” he said and gave her one of his usual kind smiles. He then looked down at the knife again, continuing his work. Mae observed him for a moment, silently counting the seconds pass by. 

One minute closer to seeing her boys, she thought, and picked up another mushroom from her basket. But until then, she had to amuse herself in other ways. Maybe tomorrow she could go into town and buy that frock she had seen last time she was there. Not that she needed a new frock, but simply because it made life a little more bearable. Change was always welcome in an existence filled with repetition.

**Author's Note:**

> I love them :')
> 
> Say hi on tumblr! @pizzas-will-rule-the-world


End file.
